1. Field
The disclosure relates generally to data processing devices and more specifically to managing transfer of ownership of a cryptographically controlled data processing device using public keys corresponding to current, previous, and designated successor owners.
2. Description of the Related Art
Asymmetric public-key cryptography, where the non-sensitive half of each “keypair” may be freely published, allows verification of ownership based on non-sensitive information. However, securely transferring ownership between public keys, or digital certificates representing the public keys, may be challenging if the final target public key is not yet known at the time of transfer, for example. Considerable variation in the degree of synchronization exists between source and target public keys depending on temporal availability and the level of cooperation between the owners of the public keys. Many current schemes are optimized for the closely synchronized online case and may not adapt to looser coordination between source and target public keys.